MPs’ business costs

Emma Reynolds

IPSA paid £1,849,264 against 2,162 published rows for Emma Reynolds between 2010-11 and 2025-26 as the member for Wolverhampton North East BC, then Wycombe CC. These are the costs of running an office and employing staff under IPSA’s rules. They are not salary, and the largest part of them is wages IPSA pays to the member’s employees rather than money the member receives.

By category, 2010-11 to 2025-26

2,162 claims, £1,849,264 paid. The headings are IPSA’s own categories grouped; the categories inside each are named on the register page.

Category	What it covers	Claims	Paid	Share
Staffing	The salaries and employment costs of the people an MP employs to run their office and casework. IPSA pays these directly; they are not money an MP receives.	358	£1,388,766	75.1%
Office costs	Renting and running a constituency office: rent, utilities, equipment, stationery and postage.	1,400	£235,267	12.7%
Accommodation	The cost of somewhere to stay for an MP whose constituency is far enough from Westminster that IPSA's rules allow it. An MP representing a London seat is not eligible on the same terms.	353	£149,606	8.1%
Travel	Journeys between the constituency and Westminster and within the constituency. Until 2018-19 IPSA published one travel category; from 2019-20 it publishes travel by the MP, by staff and by a dependant separately.	24	£32,025	1.7%
Starting up and winding up	The one-off costs of opening an office on election and of closing one on leaving. These fall in the years around a general election and are absent from the rest.	23	£34,545	1.9%
Miscellaneous	Claims IPSA records under none of the headings above. Called “Miscellaneous Expenses” until 2018-19.	4	£9,055	0.5%

Every year in the register

Emma Reynolds’s own years, not the register’s: the first is 2010-11 and the last is 2025-26. Figures are not adjusted for inflation, so a rise between two distant years is partly a rise in prices. Select a year to read it on its own.

Year	Claims	Staffing	Office costs	Accommodation	Travel	Starting up and winding up	Miscellaneous	Total
2010-11	134	£86,383	£18,301	£16,097	£1,737	—	—	£122,519
2011-12	161	£114,708	£19,511	£19,900	£3,071	—	—	£157,190
2012-13	188	£132,016	£22,200	£19,967	£3,731	—	—	£177,914
2013-14	193	£127,124	£22,116	£16,820	£2,423	—	—	£168,482
2014-15	151	£135,086	£20,671	£11,529	£4,479	—	—	£171,765
2015-16	133	£135,465	£19,460	£9,785	£3,147	—	—	£167,856
2016-17	274	£141,171	£20,542	£9,919	£3,631	—	—	£175,262
2017-18	242	£120,975	£20,090	£10,596	£964	—	—	£152,624
2018-19	223	£151,559	£23,680	£12,071	£3,825	—	—	£191,135
2019-20	111	£93,882	£14,293	£9,422	£1,204	£33,857	£8,455	£161,114
2020-21	3	—	—	—	—	£688	—	£688
2024-25	271	£150,398	£25,943	£4,768	£3,814	—	£600	£185,524
2025-26	78	—	£8,460	£8,732	—	—	—	£17,192

A year in which Emma Reynolds joined or left the House part-way through is a part year, and is not comparable with a full one.

What each category is made of, 2010-11 to 2025-26

The cost types IPSA records inside each heading, largest first by what it paid.

Staffing

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	11	£1,288,944
Professional Services (Staff.)	42	£45,851
Pooled Services	15	£32,000
Bought-in services	8	£9,313
Pooled staffing services	2	£6,600
Pooled Staffing Services	2	£2,400

Office costs

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Const Office Rent	43	£52,613
Install/Maint Office Equip.	73	£21,784
Const Office Tel. Usage/Rental	213	£19,837
Stationery Purchase	131	£15,229
Const Office Electricity	39	£13,990
Rent	11	£13,017

Accommodation

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Accommodation Rent	107	£106,059
Hotel - London	61	£13,500
Council Tax	54	£9,088
Rent	9	£6,922
Water	17	£3,288
Gas	30	£2,337

Travel

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Aggregated Travel Costs	9	£27,007
Rail	5	£2,789
Other public transport	2	£1,018
Parking	4	£816
Mileage - car	2	£321
Taxi	2	£75

Starting up and winding up

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Payroll	1	£26,244
Maintenance, Redecorations & Repairs	1	£4,052
Rent	1	£1,594
Waste disposal, confidential waste & rubbish collection	3	£1,177
Utilities	2	£771
Mileage - car	5	£299

Miscellaneous

Cost type	Claims	Paid
Redundancy	1	£7,269
Moving Fees	1	£1,141
Removals	1	£600
Utilities	1	£44

Largest claims, 2010-11 to 2025-26

The 15 rows IPSA paid most against, with IPSA’s own description of each. Read the description before the amount: IPSA publishes most of a member’s staffing as one row for the whole year — “Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the ⟨year⟩ year” — so the largest row here is usually a year of wages for the member’s employees and not something bought.

Date	Category	Cost type	Description	Claimed	Paid
31 March 2025	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2024-25 year	£146,362	£146,362
31 March 2019	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2018-19 year	£132,539	£132,539
31 March 2017	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2016-17 year	£130,276	£130,276
31 March 2015	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2014-15 year	£129,783	£129,783
31 March 2016	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2015-16 year	£129,625	£129,625
31 March 2013	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2012-13 year	£125,166	£125,166
31 March 2014	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2013-14 year	£120,824	£120,824
31 March 2012	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2011-12 year	£109,222	£109,222
31 March 2018	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2017-18 year	£97,930	£97,930
31 March 2011	Staffing	Payroll	Total payroll costs for the 2010-11 year	£86,248	£86,248
31 March 2020	Staffing	Payroll	Total Staffing budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£80,969	£80,969
31 March 2020	Winding Up	Payroll	Total Winding Up budget payroll costs for the 2019-20 year	£26,244	£26,244
31 March 2020	Miscellaneous	Redundancy	Staff redundancy payments	£7,269	£7,269
9 May 2018	Staffing	Pooled Services	Parliamentary Research Service	£4,800	£4,800
30 June 2017	Staffing	Pooled Services	Parliamentary Research Service	£4,800	£4,800

Claims refused and money repaid, 2010-11 to 2025-26

3 claims carry an amount IPSA did not pay or an amount repaid to it: £0 not paid and £239 repaid. A refusal is not a finding of wrongdoing — most are claims outside the scheme’s rules, or submitted without the evidence IPSA requires — and it is shown because leaving it out would show only the money that went out.

What this page does not show

Whether any of it was justified. IPSA accepted these claims under its own rules and the register records what was paid, not whether it should have been. A large total is not a finding about the member.

Nor how Emma Reynolds compares with another member. After staffing the largest headings are accommodation and travel, and both are decided mostly by where a constituency is: a member several hundred miles from Westminster is eligible for costs a member with a London seat is not. Two members’ totals are two sets of rules as much as two sets of choices, and the length of service differs too.

It is also not pay. IPSA sets and publishes MPs’ salaries separately and they are not in this register; the staffing figure here is the salaries of the member’s employees.

All MPs’ business costs · Emma Reynolds’s register of interests and votes · Sources